Cain Goes to Hogwarts
by shipperoftheships67
Summary: J. Cain Tenebris is an American boy, happy with his current life with his parents and little sister Anna, when they move to England for his dad's job. He receives a letter from a brown owl accepting him as a student in a school he had never even heard of. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This will be a story of a normal, non-life threatening year at Hogwarts.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This story is a mix of my own characters as well as some of J.K.'s. (McGonagall, Neville, the Potters & the Weasleys, Hermione, etc.) Hogwarts belongs to J.K. Rowling as well and I, in no way, am trying to claim it as my own. There are some things, such as the letters, McGonagall's speech, as well as the Sorting Hat's song are from J.K. herself because I thought they would be an annual thing; alway the same. Also, I really could not write a new song for the hat. It's impossible. But the rest is my own doing. This is merely me placing my own characters in the wonderful school of magic.

I sincerely hope you enjoy this work of fan-fiction.

Xx...xX

_**Chapter One**_

Jacob Cain Tenebris woke up on his eleventh birthday, August 25, in his still-new bedroom to the sound of an insistent pecking on the window near his head.

"Lemme alone," he grunted. "I'm still tired." The pecking continued.

Finally Cain sat up and looked around for his alarm clock before remembering that it was still packed away in a box somewhere. He glanced out the window to see a large brown owl with a thick yellow envelope in it's beak. The bird was looking at him expectantly.

Cain looked around the room again and rubbed his eyes before turning back to the window. The owl was still there, staring at him with unblinking eyes. After a quick check that the door was closed, Cain opened the window to allow the bird entrance. He watched as it dropped the envelope onto his unmade bed and proceeded to flutter onto the back of his desk chair.

"Surely this can't be for me," Cain muttered to himself. "I've only been in England for two weeks. I don't even know the neighbors yet."

But, sure enough, there it lay. A letter addressed to him, plain as day:

Mr. C. Tenebris

Uppermost Bedroom

10 Pennywhistle Lane,

Loughton,

Essex

_This is my address, _Cain thought_, but my first name starts with a J._

With a confused glance thrown at the owl, now napping with its head under its dusty-brown coloured wing, Cain ripped open the envelope, took out the letter to shake it open and read:

Hogwarts School of

Witchcraft and Wizardry

_Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

Dear, Mr. Tenebris,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Neville Longbottom

Neville Longbottom,

Deputy Headmaster

"Oh, my god," Cain whispered, firmly believing that this was some sort of joke. But who would train an owl like this just to play a joke on a boy they didn't even know?

"They await my owl..?" Cain slowly turned his eyes toward the majestic bird currently perched atop his chair. "Are you _my_ owl?" he asked it. It answered by leaping from the chairback and onto Cain's shoulder with an affectionate nip at his ear. Cain took this reaction as an affirmative.

_But it's August, _Cain thought in disbelief. _If this is real, then how could they expect a response in July?_

Feeling that there must've been a mistake with this owl, Cain darted over to his desk, searching for a pen and paper in the mess. He scribbled out a sort of letter of his own:

To whom it may concern,

My name is Cain Tenebris and I have received your letter from this "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry". I fear that it may have been addressed to me by mistake. There must be another C. Tenebris nearby.

Although I hope there was no mistake, I wish you the best of luck in finding the correct recipient of this acceptance letter soon.

Best wishes,

Cain Tenebris

Cain folded the sheet of notebook paper and offered it to the owl still sitting on his shoulder. It clamped the page in its beak and launched itself back out through the window.

"I hope you still come visit," Cain whispered as he watched the bird disappear from view.

"Cain!" he heard his mother call up to him from the foot of the stairs making him jump. "Breakfast is ready!"

"Coming, Mom!" he shouted back down to her before going about finding some clean-ish clothes to wear for the day.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two**_

After a homemade family breakfast with his parents and baby sister, who had apparently lost her first baby tooth that morning, Cain found himself lugging box after box of his things up the staircase to his bedroom where he began unpacking while listening to his CDs that he had refused to give up looking for until he found them the previous week.

Cain's father, Mitchell Tenebris who was an incredible surgeon, had been transferred from the hospital in Ohio, which he'd worked at for ten years, to an important branch of the same hospital in Essex. The transfer had forced Mitchell to uproot his family and haul them to England. Up until then, they had lived in Mitchell's hometown of Aurora, Ohio; not too far from the east coast of America.

Mitchell was a tall thin man with close cropped dark brown hair and brown eyes. He's a friendly man who would gladly do anything to make someone else's life just a smidgen easier. He met his wife Louise while they were still in high school and married her directly after their graduation. That was nearly thirteen years ago.

Louise Tenebris was of average height with mousey brown hair and green eyes that had always, at least as far back as Cain could remember, held nothing but warmth and love for anyone she'd cared for. She was the sort of woman who could get anything she wanted just by using her looks, but never took advantage of it. Her mindset wouldn't allow her to indulge in such a thing.

Cain was born a short after their marriage and Anna six years after that. Cain had always loved and cared for his little sister. Any time she ever felt threatened by anything, she always knew that her big brother would be there to guide her along. As a fiercely protective older brother, Cain would always immediately resented anyone and anything that may pose a threat to his anyone, especially Anna, in his circle of loved ones. Louise and Mitchell had never once raised a hand to their children; time-outs and a good talking to had always been good enough to settle the young boy and girl down.

Currently, as Cain sat in his bedroom by himself, he couldn't help but let his mind wander back to the owl and the letter that was currently hidden in his desk drawer underneath a stack of folders. He wondered if the animal would come back with a response from the sender or perhaps even a dead rodent. He wouldn't mind. Just as long as he knew that it had been real.

He unpacked several boxes of his books, school supplies, and clothes, all the while feeling like he'd had a cruel joke played on him. He wondered what the person who had written that bogus letter was doing just then. Were they howling with laughter at how excited he'd almost gotten? Or was there someone actually waiting on him to inform them that he would in fact be ready to attend their school by September 1?

Before he knew it, Cain saw that it was nearly six o'clock in the evening. He'd just realised that he was absolutely parched as well. He figured that he would run downstairs to fetch himself a bottle of water and come back up to try and empty a few more boxes before midnight.

Cain was a little upset as he remembered that not even his mother had wished him a happy birthday that morning at breakfast, but he didn't want to bring it up to them. He felt that that would make him seem needy and as though he were begging for their attention. He decided that he would just continue on with his day and if someone gave him a "happy birthday," then he would gladly take it with gratitude, and if not, well then he would just have to deal with his newfound bitterness alone.

In the kitchen, Cain saw a light coming from the living room and went to see who might be downstairs as well since he'd been cooped up in his bedroom for most of the day. Headed toward the doorway, he heard some shh-ing that sounded like it came from his father.

"_Surprise!" _came the shout of the three most important people to Cain upon his entrance. Cain gasped in shock and stumbled back, tripping over a garbage bag full of clothing and landing flat on his rump with a huff.

"Happy birthday, bubby!" Anna shouted as she launched herself into his lap, throwing her tiny five year old arms around his neck.

"Thanks, sis," Cain laughed as he hugged her back.

"Did you really think that we would've forgotten your birthday, honey?" Louise asked as she helped him from the floor to wrap her arms around him as well.

"I almost forgot about it myself," he lied.

Mitchell barked out a laugh as he clapped him on the back. "Happy eleventh, son."

"Thanks, dad."

Cain noticed a store bought cake with eleven blue birthday candles, their flames dancing, sitting on top of a few cardboard boxes arranged into a makeshift table in the middle of the floor. There were the words "_Happy Birthday Cain!"_ written in cursive with blue icing.

"Well go on," Louise told him, giving him a shove toward the cake. "Blow out your candles."

"Don't forget to make a wish!" Anna reminded him raising a laugh from everyone else.

After a moment of silently making his wish, Cain took a deep breath and snuffed out every one of the flickering flames in one go. Looking up to his parents, Cain saw that they were each holding a wrapped gift in their hands.

"You got me presents?" he asked excitedly. He could hardly believe that they'd had enough money left over after having to eat out for the last two weeks. Anna suddenly dashed into the other room and rummaged around for a moment before running back in and demanding that he open her gift first.

"Okay, okay," said Cain. "Sit here with me." He patted the spot in the floor next to him.

She plopped down beside him and watched as he began to tear the bright red paper off of his new brown leather journal. He gasped in surprise. Cain popped open the clasp that held the book closed and looked through the pages of yellowish paper.

He had expected something more childish like a sticker book or maybe a sixty four pack of Crayola crayons.

"Whoa, Anna, did you pick this by yourself?" Cain asked turning the book over.

"Yup," she answered proudly. "Look here-" she pointed to the bottom right corner of the front cover. In wonderful calligraphy it read "J. Cain Tenebris". "Do you like it?"

"Yes, Annabelle, I love it! Thank you!" He tackled her with a bear hug that ended in a fierce tickle fight.

"Guys, guys!" their father shouted over their hysterical giggles. "Do you want to open the rest of your gifts, Cain, or would you rather us return them?"

"No, no!" Cain replied, tearing himself away from his little sister. "I'm coming!"

Louise handed to Cain a thick, rectangular parcel wrapped with silver paper telling him, "Happy birthday, baby."

Cain pulled the paper away from the red and black cover of his new H.P. Lovecraft book. His mother knew that he absolutely loved reading horror stories and that he idolized Lovecraft. She'd caught him more times than he could count reading under his blankets with a flashlight late into the night and scaring himself into not wanting to go to sleep.

"Oh my gosh, mom, thank you!" Cain started flipping through the large book full of Lovecraft's short stories while Louise ruffled her son's hair and told him that she loved him. "Love you too, mom."

"My turn, birthday boy," Mitchell stated, brandishing a third gift, this one wrapped in Cain's favourite colour.

Cain accepted the package and immediately found a place to rip away the wrapping. Underneath the bright orange paper, was a wooden box with a glass front and a small hook to keep the doors latched. Behind the clear glass was another sheet of brown paper to, Cain assumed, make sure that the glass wasn't broken during transport. Curious, Cain swiveled the hook around to allow the tiny double doors to be pulled open.

Cain pulled away the protective brown paper and, arranged with the biggest on top, the smallest just beneath that, and two matching in size at the bottom, were four hacky sacks. The top sack was a deep red hue; the middle was a yellow, almost gold, colour with white on the sides; the bottom two were a black colour.

"Well, what do you think, kiddo?" Mitchell asked, starting to grow concerned with his son's silence.

"Dad, these are awesome," Cain reassured his father. "What do the colours represent?"

"I don't know that they represent anything," Mitchell replied. "As soon as I saw them, I knew that I just had to get 'em for you."

"It just seems like they're in this order for a reason, ya know?"

"Yeah, it does seem that way, doesn't it?" Louise chimed in.

"When I was your age, Cain," Mitchell started, "All of my buddies and I would gather around in a circle and kick a sack around 'til somebody dropped it."

"What did you do when it was dropped?" Anna asked.

"Well, sweetpea, we'd kick that person out of the circle and keep on going."

"Did you ever drop it, dad?" Cain asked.

"Oh yes," came Mitchell's quick reply with a chuckle. "I dropped it many a time."

"Yes he has," Louise agreed, laughing at fond memories of a teenaged Mitchell repeatedly dropping a hacky sack and having to watch as the rest of the boys went on playing without him.

"After a piece of cake, you both should go to bed," Mitchell told his children after a glance at the Roman numerals on the huge clock that continuously tick-tocked on the wall above the fireplace.

Having eaten their piece of cake, Mitchell had taken Anna to clean up for bed while Cain hung back to say his goodnight to his mother.

"Do you think I could stay up a while longer to empty out a few more boxes?" Cain pleaded.

"Because I really don't want to wake up surrounded by a million boxes anymore."

"I supposed," Louise allowed, "But be in bed by twelve at least. Deal?"

He nodded. "Goodnight, mom." He let her press a kiss to his forehead.

Cain gathered up his birthday gifts and bounded up the stairs to bid his father and sister good night as to clean himself up for bed as well before returning to his bedroom to continue emptying out his boxes. Closing the door softly behind him, Cain chose one of his many CDs-Metallica this time- and put it on quietly before he glanced around the messy room. He half expected the owl to be perched once again on his desk chair, but the bird was nowhere in sight.

Trying to not to feel so disappointed, Cain piled his wonderful birthday presents onto his night table and went about unpacking some more boxes. There were only about five of them left, and those were mainly books and things, his digital clock among them. Once they'd been emptied, Cain glanced at his freshly unpacked clock and realised that it was 11:58 pm. He still had two minutes to spare. Two minutes that he used to put on his pajamas and climb into bed.

Cain lay awake hoping to at least have a response from the owl telling him that they were sorry for sending him the the acceptance letter by mistake and that they would like his help in finding whomever it was supposed to have been delivered to. With that thought rolling around his head, Cain finally drifted off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter Three**_

When Cain woke the next morning, he realised rather quickly that it was because of a pleasantly annoying rustling at his window again. He excitedly leaped from the bed to throw open the window. The brown owl swooped in to drop the newest roll of yellow parchment onto Cain's desk. Before he even thought of unrolling the parchment, Cain dug up a half empty bag of beef jerky to offer to the bird perched, once again, on the back of the desk chair. It snatched the meat from Cain's fingers and used its talons to rip the dried beef into shreds. With a chuckle, Cain retrieved the letter from his desk and read:

_Mr. Tenebris,_

_You, I assume, will be pleased to hear that we were not mistaken in sending the welcoming letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to you._

_To more inform you and your family of the goings on at the school and where to buy your school things, I will be arriving to your home shortly._

_Enclosed in the separate envelope, you'll find your ticket to board the Hogwarts Express on September 1 at 11:30 am._

_Yours sincerely,_

Neville Longbottom,

Deputy Headmaster

_P.S.- This owl is yours to keep. You are to name him and treat him with care and respect. I will bring his perch with me later today._

"Today?" Cain whispered to himself. He looked to the bird thinking that his parents were going to kill him when they found out that he now had a nameless pet owl. The owl hooted and tried to rip open the bag of jerky with his talons and beak.

Cain opened the other, smaller envelope and pulled out a train ticket that told him that he was to get onto the Hogwarts Express at 11:00 am, September 1, at King's Cross Station, from platform Nine and Three-Quarters. _Nine and Three-Quarters?_ thought Cain confusedly. He had never heard of such a platform.

He looked back to the brown owl sitting at his desk. _What am I going to name this bird? _Cain thought exasperatedly, _I've never even had a dog before._

He decided to make it sort of ironic by naming him after a famous messenger. Maybe Mercury, the Roman messenger god; or perhaps Gabriel, the messenger Archangel, known as the message carrier of God Himself. But Cain felt that that would seem like he was calling himself God, and he didn't feel comfortable with that.

So, Mercury it was, then.

"So. I have an owl now," said Cain as he stared at the bird. "And his name is Mercury."

Mercury hooted at Cain and they both jumped at the sound of his mother's shout for him to come downstairs. "Wonder what that's about," he mumbled as he pulled on the day before's jeans and a clean sweater.

He looked at the owl again. "Um, you stay here for now, Merc." Cain opened the bag of meat for him and bounded down the stairs.

Cain shot through the kitchen and into the front room where his parents were waiting for him. Standing with them in the entryway was a handsome, rather friendly looking man wearing a deep maroon coloured cloak hanging all the way to the floor.

"Um, good morning Mom, Dad," he smiled to them, trying to appear normal. "Good morning to you too, Mr. Longbottom."

"Good morning to you, Mr. Tenebris," he nodded to Cain with a somewhat wry grin. "Call me Neville."

"How exactly do you two know each other?" Louise asked, placing a hand on her son's shoulder.

"Well, Mrs. Tenebris," Neville started, "Your son has been accepted into our school."

"What school would that be?" Mitchell politely demanded.

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Wizardry?" Cain's father asked uncertainly. He had a look on his face like he was on the receiving end of a joke.

"Yes, wizardry," Neville stated matter-of-factly. "It is the finest school for all young witches and wizards to learn how to find and harvest their true magnificence."

"Is this the only wizarding school?" Louise asked. Mitchell looked at her as though she'd lost her mind.

"No it isn't. There are several more in all different countries."

"Even America?" Cain asked excitedly. He was finally believing that receiving the letter wasn't just a joke played on him.

"Even in America. As far as I know, you were put down to receive an acceptance letter from the University of the Grindylow on your birthday had you not moved out of your country."

Cain thought about this for a moment, trying to take it all in. He could hardly believe that this was a real, actual thing. That there was seriously a school called Hogwarts and that he was supposed to go to it. He had always been meant to go to a school for witches and wizards. So, clearly, this meant-

"Does this mean that I'm a- a wizard?" he stuttered, interrupting whatever his mother was saying to him.

"How do we know that this is real?" Mitchell was always the one to argue with something that he wasn't one hundred percent sure of.

"I know for a fact that this is real, Mitch," Louise told him sternly with a proud grin to her son.

"Seriously?"

"Yes," Louise looked at her husband. "You remember my cousin Mikah?" Mitchell nodded."She went to the University of the Grindylow," she informed them. "She would send her owl Hermes home with letters all the time." Cain snorted.

"Is there something funny?" Louise asked of him.

Cain looked to Professor Longbottom who was wearing an amused and knowing grin. He just walked to the foot of the stairs and let out a whistle. Seconds later his owl swooped down and landed atop Cain's head. Louise gasped while Mitchell stumbled back a few steps.

"Mom, Dad," said Cain with a chuckle. He gestured to the bird on his head. "This is Mercury. The Roman version of Hermes."

"It's a good name for him," Neville stated. Cain walked back to join the group in the living room. As he came closer to his parents, they became more relaxed about the large bird currently perched upon their son's head. Mitchell even reached out to stroke his finger down the owl's chest.

The professor reached inside of his robes suddenly and pulled out a black velvet drawstring satchel that looked like it might only hold something the size of a bowling ball. He dunked his hand inside of the bag and a second later, pulled out a large, gold wire bird cage with a bar running across the middle for Mercury to perch on. There were two square, white, metal bowls meant for food and water clipped to the bottom edges of the cage. Sitting on the floor of the cage were two more black velvet bags.

"Here is the cage that belongs to Mercury," said Professor Longbottom to Cain. "One of the bags inside is something of a gift from me to help you carry your things from the shops. The other holds everything you will need to take care of him properly, which is fully expected of you."

"Of course." Cain nodded and accepted the metal bird cage. "Do you think it best if I just leave the door open for him to come and go as he pleases?"

"That should do just fine."

With a grateful smile to Professor Longbottom, Cain gestured for Mercury to come down to his arm because, seriously, those talons started to hurt his head after a while. He took the cage up to his bedroom and made room for it on top of his dresser. He reached inside one of the black bags to find which was for Mercury, he discovered that they were far more spacious than they should have been. But, having felt around for a bit, Cain discovered a cloth sack with some sort of pellet food inside. Assuming that this was meant for the bird, Cain dumped some of it into one of the white bowls in the cage. He poured some water from a bottle on his desk into the other bowl.

Back downstairs, Cain asked the deputy headmaster about the second bag.

"Is it made like the other one?" asked Cain. Longbottom nodded.

"These bags have had a charm placed onto them to allow them to, weightlessly, carry more items."

Mitchell looked as though he'd like to have one of the charmed bags for himself.

"So as I was about to ask you earlier, how long have you known about Hogwarts before Professor Longbottom came here?" Louise asked. Cain felt his cheeks grow warm.

"Since the morning of my birthday," he answered shyly. "Honestly, I thought that it was all a super elaborate joke."

"Cain, I assure you that there is no joke here."

"So, does this mean I get to go to Hogwarts?" Cain, nearly jumping with excitement, turned to his parents.

"It sure looks like it kiddo," Mitchell answered for both he and his wife with a smile to his eldest child.

"But wait," Cain stopped. "The letter said that you await my owl by _no later than _July thirty first."

"Well, given that you've only been in England for the amount of time you have, there will be an exception in your case."

Cain's shoulders sagged in relief.

"Go get yourself and your sister ready to go and we'll head out to get your things," Louise said. Cain and dashed up the staircase to get Anna as well as himself ready to leave. He triple checked that he hadn't forgotten his list of necessary school supplies as well as the empty black velvet bag.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter Four**_

On their way into London, Mitchell was stuck in the backseat with his children while Louise and Professor Longbottom-clearly not used to, and uncomfortable, being in an automobile-were in the front to navigate their way through the confusing streets. Finally, after what felt like hours to Cain but was probably only twenty minutes, they arrived in front of an old, shabby-looking shack. Cain almost overlooked it, probably wouldn't have even noticed it if Longbottom hadn't pointed it out to them.

Cain's stomach did a little flip, making him hesitate my the curb of the sidewalk.

"What's the matter, kiddo?" Mitchell wondered, wrapping his arm around his son's shoulder.

"I'm nervous, Dad," Cain admitted, clenching his jaw.

"Don't worry about it, bud. Everything will turn out alright."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Cain looked at his father gratefully before following after the Professor, his mother, and his sister into the Leaky Cauldron.

Inside, there was an old and bald man standing behind the bar wiping out a glass with a rag at the far end of the saloon. He waved to their group in a friendly manner and gestured for them to have a seat anywhere.

"Mornin', Professor," he said with a nod in his direction.

"Morning, Tom," he replied.

The Tenebrises nodded politely to Tom; except for Anna who grabbed Cain's hand and hid her face behind his arm.

"I'll be escorting Mr. Tenebris and his family down to Gringotts today," said the professor to Tom. "Be sure to help them in the right direction if they should need it, won't you, Tom?"

"Sure thing, Mr. Longbottom." He gave Neville a nod and went back to his glass.

The deputy headmaster nodded and lead the way to back of the pub. There were only a few garbage cans out the back door, leaned against a solid brick wall. That was until Professor Longbottom took out what appeared to be a long, thin bit of wood-that Cain belatedly realised was probably a magic wand-and counted up three bricks and tapping twice on the second one over.

Cain watched as, at first, there appeared a hole the size of a quarter, then as it spread into a large archway that led out onto a cobblestone street. There were tons of people, all wearing a cloak or robes similar to those of Professor Longbottom as though it were completely normal. Cain started to feel like his plain navy sweater, blue jeans, and black Converse were nothing but strange and out of place.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley."

There were dozens of stores and different types of vendors lining both sides of the street each with a sign telling what the shop was called, and what was sold therein. There was a sign in front of the store to their left that read: "_Cauldrons - All Sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver - Self Stirring - Collapsable." _

"You will need a cauldron for your Potions lessons, Cain, but first your parents must exchange Muggle money for the wizard gold at Gringotts," said Professor Longbottom as he noticed Cain reading the sign.

"What's Gringotts?" Cain asked, sounding confused.

"That's our bank. Run by goblins; I highly suggest that you never try to rob or steal from it."

"Oh," was all he could think to say.

On their way through the curvey street filled with different places to shop, Cain saw several stores that he'd like to at least visit before they returned home. There was an Apothecary that apparently sold dragon liver (11 Sickles) and beetle eyes (5 Knuts a scoop). Also, as they passed a shop called Eeylop's Owl Emporium, Cain heard all sorts of rustling and hissing coming from its depths.

"Ah, here we are," said Longbottom as a gigantic white marble building came into view. "The wizarding bank of Gringotts."

Standing on either side of the two enormous bronze doors were what must've been goblins. They each stood about as tall as Anna and wore pointed beards with a sharp face. They each had abnormally long fingers and feet. The pair of goblins bowed them through the large set of doors.

At the end of the small entrance hall, there was a silver set of towering doors with a sort of poem etched into the metal:

_Enter stranger, but take heed_

_Of what awaits the sin of greed,_

_For those who take, but do not earn_

_Must pay most dearly in their turn._

_So if you seek beneath our floors_

_A treasure that was never yours,_

_Thief, you have been warned, beware_

_Of finding more than treasure there._

"As I said before, I don't recommend stealing from Gringotts."

Cain could've swore that he saw one of the two goblins grin to the other in agreement to Longbottom's statement as they bowed the group through the silver doors. The professor lead them through to a counter with goblins sitting on high stools on the opposite side. Cain saw one goblin on the left side of the enormous hall weighing what looked to be an uncut sapphire gem, and another on the right side of the hall who was counting through the towering stacks of gold, silver, and bronze coins standing in front of him.

Everything in Gringotts was marble. The countertops, the walls, the pillars, the floors. _Everything._ Cain and Anna wandered around the hall while Neville and the goblin tending to them taught Mitchell and Louise how to use the wizard coin.

"Cain, do you think I'll ever get to go to this special school with you?" Anna asked as she looked around at all the other small children who'd come into Gringotts with their parents.

"I don't know, Anna," Cain answered honestly. "I had no idea what it even was until yesterday."

"I hope I do," she replied. "Then we could do magic together!"Cain smiled down at her with amusement.

"Come on kids," Louise called to them, motioning toward the door.

"This is where I'll leave you today, Mr. Tenebris," Professor Longbottom said, turning to Cain. "I must return to Hogwarts to finish preparing for start of term."

"Thank you for helping us today, sir," Cain replied.

"You are very welcome. Just remember that if you need any help finding anything on your list, you can always ask Tom, back at the pub, or even a patron of any shop. They will be glad to assist you."

Mr. and Mrs. Tenebris said their thank yous and goodbyes and then watched as the deputy headmaster just vanished from sight with a loud sound like a gunshot. Anna let out a short screech while Cain winced and automatically moved to stand in front of his baby sister.

"You have your school list, Cain?" Mitchell asked once they'd recovered from their shock.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, it's here." Cain pulled the yellowed parchment from his sweater pocket and began to read down the list:

Hogwarts School of

Witchcraft and Wizardry

UNIFORM

First year students will require:

Three sets plain work robes (black)

One plain pointed hat (black)

One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)_

by Miranda Goshawk

_A History of Magic_

by Bathilda Bagshot

_Magical Theory_

by Adalbert Waffling

_A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_

by Emeric Switch

_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_

by Phyllida Spore

_Magical Droughts and Potions_

by Arsenius Jigger

_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_

by Newt Scamander

_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_

by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl **OR **a cat **OR** a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS

ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

"Apparently, I'm not allowed to have my own broomstick," Cain tells his parents sarcastically. "I would have no idea what to do with myself on a broomstick anyways." A few boys nearby snickered in his direction. "And _apparently _that's not cool. I'm not even there yet, and I'm already a loser."

"You'll do fine, dear," Louise reassured him as they headed back toward the street from the front steps of Gringotts.

"I can't believe this is happening," Cain mumbled as he read through the list again.

"I'm sure this is the way most people from non-wizard families feel when they first learn of their magical abilities," Mitchell reassured his son.

"Here, this must be the place to get your uniform."

Louise lead the way to the shop across the street with a sign that read, "_Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions"._ A bell chimed as they entered the store. Seconds later, a harried but friendly looking witch came bustling into the front room.

"Here for Hogwarts, boy?" she demanded as she spied Cain standing next to his father.

"Yes ma'am."

"American?"

"Yes ma'am," Cain answered again.

"Well, you come this way, and your people can wait in front here." Madam Malkin gestured for Cain to follow her into a side room where she had him stand on a small stool standing next to a girl of about his age. There was another witch pinning up the girl's robes up around her feet.

"Hi," he said to her with a small grin.

"Hullo," she responded shyly.

"I'm Cain."

"My name's Willow," she answered, finally looking over at him.

Willow was a bit shorter than he, with light blonde hair and bright green eyes. She wore a dark purple sweater with her jeans and grey Converse shoes. Her cheeks reddened as she studied Cain.

"Do you know what House you'll be in?" Willow asked suddenly. Cain had no idea what she was talking about, and it must've shown on his face. "Or are you a Muggle-born?"

"Uhm, I'm Muggle-born," Cain answered. "I found out about Hogwarts only yesterday when I got my letter." Madam Malkin yanked a set of robes over Cain's head from behind and started pinning them up to the appropriate length.

"Well, there are four Houses that represent the four founders of Hogwarts; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin," Willow explained. "Each House has certain traits that they prefer over others. I expect I'll be in Hufflepuff because I'm extremely loyal and am terrible at lying, which can be both good and bad." She giggled nervously at the end.

"How will we know which House we'll be in?" Cain suddenly felt ill. What if he didn't have the right traits to be put into any of the Houses available? Would they kick him out on the spot? Would they laugh and say that it was all just a joke on him after all?

"I'm not certain," she admitted. "My older sister, she's a fifth year now, is in Ravenclaw, but she absolutely refuses to tell me how they'll sort us out." Cain's stomach dropped.

He had absolutely no idea as to how (or if) he'd be chosen for a house. _What if we have to perform some sort of magic trick in front of the entire school?_ he thought. He only had seven days now until he had to catch the train to his new school. There was still the matter of the strange platform number.

"I don't think it'll be too awful," Willow went on, not noticing how sick Cain was suddenly feeling. "Cassie would've told me if I would need to practice something difficult, I think. After all, she isn't cruel."

"Right, dear," said the witch working on Willow's robes as she tapped on her shoulder. "You're good to go, missy."

Cain was slightly relieved.

"Well, I guess I'll see you on the train then, Cain." Willow waved and was off.

"Don't let what she said get at you, dear," Madam Malkin told him gently. "Everything'll end up as it should."

"But what if I don't get chosen for a House?"

"You will, dear. Trust me."

Cain nodded and actually did feel a little better about the situation, but still felt a little bit nauseous.

"Right then, boy." Madam Malkin tapped on his shoulder. "I'll have your robes out in a snap."

"Thank you, Madam," said Cain as Madam Malkin removed the freshly pinned robes and headed deeper into her shop. She pulled a wand seemingly out of nowhere and started flicking and waving it around. A pair of scissors began cutting some fabric on their own as Cain watched.

Cain stood next to his mother while his father went and counted out the correct amount of of the wizard coin to give to the squat little witch. She then told Mitchell that they could come back by later to pick up his sets of robes.

"Should we get my books next?" Cain asked his father as they exited Madam Malkin's.

"I guess so," he replied. "Is that the bookshop?" Mitchell pointed down the road to a dangling sign that read "_Flourish and Blotts"_.

"I hope so," Cain said excitedly. If anything could lift his spirits, it would be a new bookshop.

As soon as he walked in, all Cain could see were books. Humongous leather bound books as well as tiny books wearing silken sleeves. There were even some fur covered books locked up in a cage that Cain seriously hoped he wouldn't need. Cain thought that he'd died and gone to heaven.

"Mom."

"I see them, honey," she laughed at her son's excitement.

"So many." He started toward a shelf, hand outstretched, ready to take out the first book for Cain to look through. To take them all; to read everything.

"School books first, Cain," Mitchell sternly told Cain, putting a hand on his arm and dragging him away from the shelves. "You can pick _two_ extra books afterwards."

"_Two?" _Cain asked exasperatedly. "But there's thousands!"

"We are not buying five thousand books and putting them in our house," Mitchell stated firmly. "It's gotta be a fire hazard, to say the least."

"Fine," Cain huffed. "Two."

Cain's parents chuckled at him as he yanked his school list from his pocket once more and tried to concentrate on the book titles that he needed first.

"Oh, we've got the entire sets of school books all bundled up for you over in the back, if you would like."

Cain turned to find a portly man wearing a bright purple bowler hat standing near a counter surrounded by bundled up sets of books that stood eight high. Cain silently plead with his father to gather up the bundle and allow him to have a look around.

"Fine," Mitchell sighed. "Go. Pick _two." _He held up two fingers.

"Okay, okay," Cain threw over his shoulder as he dashed about the store.

He looked at everything, always being sure to replace every book back to where he had originally found it. He found joke books, hex books, and even a book on the magnificence of unicorns. After nearly an hour, Cain finally decided on two books that seemed like he would really enjoy.

Cain brought the books of his choice, _Hogwarts: A History _and _Madcap Magic for Wacky Warlocks _up to his parents at the front counter. The man in the purple bowler told Cain what great choices he'd made with his selection. As he was sliding his books into the bottomless, black velvet bag, Cain heard a frantic shout coming from the street. Recognizing the tone, he automatically put his hand on his sister's shoulder.

"Stay with mom, Anna," Cain told her as he headed for the door that lead back out to Diagon Alley.

"Benjamin!" Cain heard again. He looked up and down the street until he saw a sandy haired boy who was spinning in circles, looking in all directions as he advanced on the cobblestone pathway.

"Hey, hey," said Cain as he got closer to the boy. "Who're you looking for?"

"Ben- er, my little brother," the boy answered as he spun another circle. "He's run off somewhere and I can't find him."

"What does your brother look like?" Cain asked. "Maybe I can help you look?"

"That would be amazing, thank you!" the boy said. "Benjamin's five, really small, blond hair, blue eyes. He's wearing a dark green cloak."

"Alright. You keep going this way, and I'll head down this alley and go from there," Cain suggested. "Sound good?"

"Yes, that's great," he replied, already headed down the street. "I'm Sebastian, by the way. Just yell if you find him."

"I'm Cain," he told Sebastian. "You do the same!"

Cain started down the branching alleyway that he'd indicated and began his search, calling out "Benjamin!" every now and again. He kept a watchful eye on every nook and cranny that he thought a small boy could fit into when a sniffle caught his attention. Cain ducked his head and peered into the small space between a set of stairs that lead into a shop and the wall of the next building over. He saw a boy who must've been Benjamin, wrapped tight in his green cloak.

_Well, that was quick, _Cain thought.

"Hi," said Cain gently as he knelt down to the small blond boy's level. "My name's Cain. Are you Benjamin?"

He nodded after a moment's hesitation.

"Ya know, your brother is looking all over for you. He's really worried."

"Is he mad at me?" Benjamin asked around another little sniff.

"I don't think so," Cain answered honestly. "Will you come with me so we can catch up with Sebastian before he gets too far?" He held his arms open. Benjamin obliged and slipped his arms around Cain's neck to allow himself to be lifted.

"I got sick while Bastian was buying his robes," Ben said quietly. "I was scared that he was going to be upset with me."

Cain carried the boy back out of the alleyway and back out onto the main street. Standing in front of the book store that they'd just left, were Mitchell, Louise, and Anna waiting for him to return. They'd long ago accepted that Cain would help anyone that he could, given the opportunity. Cain looked up the street and could still see Sebastian as he searched for his brother still. He gestured for his father to come closer to him.

"See that boy up there?" Mitchell nodded. "Will you get him for me? I'm afraid of scaring Ben."

Mitchell nodded and jogged to a point halfway between where they were and where Sebastian stood before calling his name. Sebastian spun and nearly fell over with relief before he started a heavy sprint back to Cain.

"Benjamin!" Sebastian shouted as he came up onto them. "For Merlin's sake, you can't just disappear like that. I was worried sick."

Cain passed off the teary eyed Benjamin to his older brother and was on the verge of walking away when his arm was grabbed.

"I really can't thank you enough," said Sebastian. "I'd been looking for ages."

"Uhm, don't mention it," Cain answered awkwardly, his cheeks burning. "I would've wanted help looking for my sister."

Cain glanced over to gesture to Anna, but he realised that his parents was watching their son's conversation with a small grin on their face. Cain chose to ignore this fact, and to continue on as though he hadn't seen it.

Sebastia gestured for Cain, who then gestured for his family, to follow him toward a shop with a sign that read: "_Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC"._

"This here is the wand shop," Sebastian informed the Tenebrises. "I've got to wait for when my mum and dad are with me till I can get mine."

"Where are your parents?" Mitchell asked.

"Oh, they're back at the pub," Sebastian answered easily. "Me mum's been having some trouble with her back here lately and, since we only have a week till my first year starts, I needed my school things."

"This is Cain's first year as well, Sebastian," Louise stated.

"Yeah?" Sebastian asked Cain hopefully. Cain nodded happily. "Well, then, perhaps I won't be as alone as I'd thought."

"I heard that," Cain laughed in agreement. Sebastian gave him a look that said that he'd never heard that phrase before. Cain just shook his head with a grin. "This is gonna get interesting."

At that moment, Benjamin let out a groan and squirmed free of his brother's hold and ran to the nearest garbage bin. Sebastian ran after him and pulled the drawstrings of Ben's cloak back away from the mess. Cain could hear Sebastian whispering to his brother.

"Everything'll be alright, Benny, I promise. We'll get you back to the pub and see if Tom can't find a potion to help."

When he was through, Benjamin looked up at Sebastian with a look that said he'd be entirely lost without him. Sebastian reached down to lift Ben up into his arms.

"I've got to take him back to our parents," Sebastian apologized. "But I'll see you on the train?"

"Yeah, definitely." Cain nodded and told Benjamin that he hoped he'd feel better soon. Ben answered by turning his face into his brother's neck. A face that, Cain noticed, was extremely pale and gleaming with sweat. Sebastian nodded goodbye and headed toward the Leaky Cauldron.

"Looks like you've already got a friend, kiddo," Mitchell laughed with a wink.

Louise motioned for Cain's list. "What do you have left, hon."

Cain thought about it. "I know that I still need to get a wand." Cain bounced with excitement as he headed toward the front door of Ollivander's.

A bell chimed as Cain and his family entered. The shop was dark and dusty with floor to ceiling shelves filled with thousands of what looked like long, thin shoe boxes. Cain looked all around for someone who worked in the place. He was about to turn to ask his parents if they should just come back later when he heard a rustling sound coming from the back of the store.

"Oh yes," said an elderly man with snow white hair as he came into the front room. "Looking for a wand then, Master Tenebris?"

"Uh, yes, sir," Cain stammered, wondering how this man, he assumed was Mr. Ollivander, knew his name.

"Right then. Hold out your wand arm."

Automatically, Cain stuck out his right arm, assuming that his "wand arm" would be the hand that he wrote with as well. A floating measuring tape appeared and began measuring everything. From his wrist to the elbow, from fingertips to the shoulder, from knee to the floor and so on until Mr. Ollivander snapped his fingers and the measure snapped into a tight coil and dropped onto a nearby chair.

"It's not every day that I get an American in my shop," Ollivander said in his light and airy voice.

"Excuse me, but how'd you know my name?" Cain asked, perplexed. "I've only even been in England for two weeks."

"Ah, Mr. Tenebris, I know everyone that steps into this place." Mr. Ollivander stepped over to a shelf and gathered five or so of the thin boxes. He opened the first and offered the contents to Cain. Before he could ask what he was supposed to do with it, Mr. Ollivander had snatched it away and thrust in the next one.

This went on for perhaps forty minutes; wand after wand being taken away before Cain could even ask what Mr. Ollivander was looking for. The entire time, Ollivander was continuously muttering to himself about the length of the wand, the core, the shape. Cain had absolutely no idea what was going on. He sent a wide eyed glance over his shoulder to his father as he accepted what felt like the five hundredth wand of the past hour.

Except, this one felt different. He felt a sudden gust of wind sweep through his hair as blue sparks flew from the tip of the wand. Cain sucked in a gasp as the wind died down. He looked up to Mr. Ollivander who was wearing a proud smile.

"Ah, yes," said Ollivander. "Ten and three-quarter inches; spruce, Phoenix feather core. Surprisingly swishy."

"So this one is mine?" Cain asked breathlessly.

"The wand chooses the wizard, Master Tenebris," Mr. Ollivander told him with a wink. "That'll be seven Galleons."

Cain loaded in the last of his school things, as well as some extra parchment and two eagle feather quills, because apparently that's what was used at Hogwarts, then he and his family headed back to leave through the Leaky Cauldron.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter Five**_

The morning of September 1, Cain found himself packing the last of his school materials into the new trunk his parents had gotten for him. There was a knock on his bedroom door as he was loading in the last of his books. He looked up to see Anna walking through doorway.

"Hey, sis," he welcomed her warmly.

"Hi," she responded solemnly.

"What's wrong, Belle?" Cain wrapped his arm around his little sister's shoulder as she came to sit next to him on the bed.

"You're leaving today." Anna sniffed quietly.

Cain nodded and readjusted himself so he was facing Anna. He rested his hands on her shoulders and said, "Annabelle, I promise that I'll send you letters all the time. I'm sure Mom and Dad will help you read them until you get better at reading them on your own."

"But I'm gonna miss you, bubby." She threw her arms around him and wiped her face against his shoulder. Cain rubbed her back soothingly.

"I'll miss you too, sis."

Just then, Mitchell called for his children to come downstairs. It was nearly time to take Cain to the train station, and there was still breakfast to eat. Anna let out a great sniff and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. She refused to let go of Cain's hand until they were seated at the table, even then, she chose the seat directly beside her brother.

"So, Cain," Louise started, "Are you excited?"

"Yeah," he nodded vigorously. "But I'm also anxious."

"That's to be expected, kiddo." Mitchell speared a link of sausage and brought it to his mouth.

"Dad, what if I don't get put into one of the Houses?" Cain nervously asked.

"Son, everything will be fine. Professor Longbottom was here, personally, to tell you that it was not a mistake that you'd received the acceptance letter."

"But what if-"

"Like your father said," Louise interrupted, "Everything will be fine, dear."

Cain looked at his plate, piled with a short stack of pancakes, some sausages, eggs, along with a few pieces of bacon. He decided that he'd better eat something before the train ride to Hogwarts and dug in.

After breakfast, Mitchell and Cain hauled Cain's trunk down the stairs and out to stuff it into the trunk of the family's blue Volkswagen Polo. They fought to make it fit before calling their family to pile into the car. Anna sat in the middle of the back seat so she could be next to her brother, while Mitchell was in the driver's seat and Louise in the front passenger. Mercury, in his cage, sat on the other side of Anna.

Cain used the car ride to talk to Anna a bit more before he would have to leave. He had absolutely no idea how the holiday vacations worked in England, so he told her that he would be home for the holidays and that he would write to her as often as he could.

Cain looked up as the car came to stop in front of King's Cross Station. He felt his stomach twist into knots as he stared at the front of the station. Mitchell and Louise stepped out of that car and went around to the trunk. Cain and Anna stayed inside until Mitchell rapped his knuckles against Cain's window and looked at him expectantly.

"What platform did you say?" Mitchell asked as they wheeled Cain's heavy trunk into the station on a trolley.

"Uhm, nine and three-quarters." Cain looked around at the large black numbers on white plaques above each platform. He saw a large number 9 and then, the next one down, a large number 10. Nothing in between but a ticket barrier.

"Are you sure?"

Cain was about to answer when he saw a familiar sandy blond head and felt a wave of relief. He called the boy's name and watched as he whipped his head around. Sebastian waved the Tenebris family over.

"I am so glad I saw you," Cain admitted breathlessly. "I have no idea where to go."

"Well, we need to go through the barrier to get onto the platform," Sebastian told him gesturing to a _very_ solid-looking brick wall as though it was completely normal.

"Uh- um- you want me to do what now?"

Sebastian laughed and gestured to Cain's parents. "Er- but your family will have to say their goodbyes out here, I'm afraid. Muggles can't pass through to the platform."

"What?" Cain asked in disbelief.

"Sorry, mate, that's just how it was made," Sebastian told them apologetically. "Only witches and wizards can get through."

Cain looked sadly back to his family. He glanced at the caged in clock hanging on the wall: 11:00. He only had thirty minutes before he had to get onto the train.

"I'll be over here-" he pointed back to Benjamin who was holding the hand of a man who looked like a bigger version of Sebastian "-when you're ready to go through. We'll go through together."

Cain nodded and turned to say his goodbyes to his parents and sister. Anna threw her arms around Cain and squeezed him for all she was worth. "I'm gonna miss you, bubby!" she cried.

"I'm gonna miss you too, Annabelle," he told her. He kissed the top of her head.

Louise had tears in her eyes as she embraced her son."I love you, baby boy," she whispered in Cain's ear.

"Love you too, Mom."

Mitchell slapped a hand onto Cain's shoulder before yanking him into a rough bear hug. "Be good, son. I love you."

"I will. Don't worry," Cain laughed. "Love you too, Dad."

"I'll send you letters all the time, I promise."

Cain said goodbye and walked over to Sebastian.

"I'm Alan Kripke, Sebastian's father," the tall blond man Cain had seen with Benjamin introduced himself. "I hear you're looking to get onto the platform?"

"Uhm, yes, sir."

"Well, why don't Ben and Seb go through first," Mr. Kripke suggested. "Then you and I will go together."

"Is that alright with you?" Sebastian asked Cain. He nodded and gestured for Sebastian and Benjamin to go ahead.

Cain watched closely as Benjamin stood between Sebastian and his trolley. Sebastian said something to his brother just before they broke into a trot, heading directly toward the brick wall between Platforms 9 and 10. He made sure not to even blink, but they seemingly vanished into thin air just before crashing into the barrier.

"Did you watch?" Mr. Kripke asked. Cain nodded uncertainly. "Well, let's hop to it then."

Cain looked back to wave a final goodbye to his family before allowing Mr. Kripke to put a hand onto Cain's shoulder and, furiously hoping that Mercury would be fine sitting atop Cain's trunk, breaking into a trot the way Sebastian had. Cain clenched his jaw as they neared the barrier. Mere inches away, Cain squeezed his eyes closed. Seconds later, Mr. Kripke halted Cain by pulling back on his shoulder.

"I thought we gonna crash into that," Cain huffed as he came to a complete stop.

Mr. Kripke laughed and called his sons over to say goodbye to Sebastian. Cain stood next to them awkwardly as he looked at the large crowd of people all milling about. There were cats twisting about people's ankles and owls that seemed to be hooted to each other through their cages. There were parents hugging their children goodbye and sending them toward the train.

"Alright, Cain," said Sebastian, "It's time to board the train."

Cain nodded and took a deep breath through his nose and said goodbye to Benjamin and Mr. Kripke before following Sebastian to the train. Sebastian and Cain hauled their trunks into the very last train car and got comfortable in their seats.

"Are you nervous?" Sebastian asked.

"How could you tell?" Cain retorted sarcastically.

"Oh, I don't know," Sebastian responded with some sarcasm of his own. "Just the way you're fidgeting. Looking around like you're expecting something to explode."

"Oh, hush." Cain laughed and rubbed his hands over his face.

Cain was still completely out of his mind with anxiety. He was terrified that as soon as he stepped into the school and they would just laugh and send him home. He felt like he was going to be sick.

"Hey, relax." Sebastian came to sit next to his new friend. He put his hand on Cain's shoulder. "You'll do fine. We'll be Sorted, we'll have a feast afterwards. Everything'll be alright."

Cain just nodded and tried to calm himself down. There was suddenly a sharp rap on the door making them jump.

"Mind if we sit in here?" asked a short girl with hair so dark, it looked almost purple in certain light. "Everywhere else is full."

Cain nodded and gestured for her to have a seat. There was a boy behind her, and Cain didn't know how he'd missed him at first. He was of average height for a boy their age, but his hair was black from the crown until about an inch from the tip, then it was a light blue.

The train jerked as it began to move. The whistle blew and the four children in the last compartment of the very last train car settled into their seats.

"I'm Ravie Ravenwood," the girl informed them as though they were just waiting on the edge of their seats for her to talk to talk to them. Cain looked to Sebastian and they rolled their eyes. Her friend looked at her incredulously.

"She's not always this snotty," Ravie Ravenwood's friend said with an Irish accent. "I'm Nick Telford." He held out his hand for the boys to shake.

"I'm Sebastian Kripke."

"Cain Tenebris."

"Your accent," said Nick. "Where are you from?"

"I'm American," Cain explained, "My family and I just moved to England about a month ago."

"Yeah?"

Cain nodded.

"Oh, like you're so special," Ravie snorted.

"Will you give it a rest, Rae?" Nick griped, "You're not going to make any friends with that attitude."

"Who says I need anymore friends, Nick?" she retorted.

"Well, you won't be keeping any either."

Ravie looked at Nick apologetically. They seemed to have a silent conversation while Cain and Sebastian watched.

"I'm sorry," Ravie told the boys after a moment. "I'm not usually like that. I'm just not too fond of leaving my home for any period of time."

Cain nodded his head in understanding. He looked over to Mercury who was watching him through the bars of his cage.

"You want outta there, Merc?" Cain asked him. The owl fluttered its wings in anticipation. Cain stood and pulled open the door of the cage and allowed the bird to flutter down onto the seat next to his owner. Cain had a sudden thought.

"Does anyone know if an owl can carry letters to different countries?"

The others just looked at him as though he'd gone mad.

"If you want to kill it, yeah," Ravie said sarcastically.

"Oh, no!" Cain hurriedly told them. "I was just curious because I've got cousins back home who're wizards and I'd been wanting to tell them but didn't know how."

"You're Muggle-born aren't you?" Nick asked with a chuckle. Cain felt his cheeks redden.

"What of it?" he demanded.

"Whoa, whoa," Nick waved his hands. "I didn't mean anything by it. It was just a question."

"Well, how would you normally send a letter to America?" Sebastian asked quickly before there could be an argument.

"I don't know," Cain admitted. "I've never done it before."

"Perhaps you could ask your parents about it."

Cain nodded and stroked Mercury's plumage. He looked fondly at the owl and thought about what the school was going to be like. He didn't feel so sick now, but he was still nervous about being there without being able to come back to his own bed at night. There was another knock at the door of their compartment and Sebastian jumped up to slide open the door.

"Anything off the trolley, dears?" a plump old witch with a friendly smile asked. Nick and Ravie immediately jumped up to have a look at the cart. Cain looked to Sebastian who pulled a few silver coins from his pocket and looked up to see Cain already watching him with a confused look on his face as he looked at his own coins. Cain's parents had given him a handful of the wizard coin in a small drawstring satchel before he'd left them at the station, but he still wasn't completely sure how to use it. Sebastian chuckled and moved to show Cain how the coins were counted.

"There are twenty nine Knuts in a Sickle, and seventeen Sickles in a Galleon," Sebastian told Cain. "You'll only need perhaps eleven or so Sickles which it looks like you have there." Cain nodded and followed his friend to have a look at what he could buy.

Cain looked at all the strange sweets that he'd never seen before in his life. There were boxes of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, Pumpkin Pasties, and Chocolate Frogs as well as some other things he'd never heard of. He also spied some bottles of orange liquid-he later found out was pumpkin juice- that looked cool and refreshing. He decided that he'd take some of everything which added up to be eleven Sickles.

Curious about the Chocolate Frogs, Cain decided to try one of them first. As he opened the container, the frog tried to leap from the box and onto the window of the compartment. Cain snatched the sweet from the glass and turned to find Sebastian and Nick chuckling merrily at Cain's struggles. Cain ignored them and chomped the head away from the frog's squirming form. Looking down at the discarded box, Cain saw a sort of card poking out. He retrieved it as Ravie explained.

"Chocolate Frogs have collectible cards inside," she said. "Which did you get?"

Cain looked down at the card to see that the picture of the man with flaming red hair was smiling and waving happily up at him. He gasped and nearly dropped the card.

"What's wrong?" Sebastian asked, concerned.

"He moved!" Cain shouted.

"Well, of course he moved, mate. D'you expect him to sit perfectly still all day?"

Cain looked at them as if there were all insane. "Pictures aren't supposed to move."

"Oh, that's right," said Nick. "Muggle pictures don't move."

"And yours do?" asked Cain incredulously.

"Well, yeah."

"So, who is it?"

Cain shook off the fact that the man in the photograph was still moving about, and flipped the card to read the name of the wizard portrayed. "Ronald Bilius 'Ron' Weasley," Cain read allowed. "I've heard that name before."

"Have you read _Hogwarts: A History_?" Nick asked.

"That's it! That's where I saw that name," Cain exclaimed. "He, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord, is what the book says."

"Yeah, and afterwards the three of them received their own Chocolate Frogs cards," Nick informed them.

"I want my own Chocolate Frog card," Sebastian whined receiving a laugh from everyone in their compartment.

Throughout the rest of the train ride to Hogwarts, Cain and his companions talked and laughed about anything they could think of. Sooner than Cain thought it should, the sky outside became dark and the stars began to shine through where the clouds were thinnest. Cain's stomach lurched when a voice came over the entire train announcing that they'd be arriving soon.

Sebastian noticed his friend's sudden silence and pale face and came over to give him a drink of his pumpkin juice. "You gonna be okay?" he asked quietly.

Cain nodded and took another swallow of the juice. "We should change into our robes," Cain suggested. Ravie went to wait outside while the boys get dressed and they do the same for her once they're finished.

As the train screeched to halt, Cain gripped the edge of the seat and Mercury flapped his wings, waiting impatiently to be allowed outside again. He stroked his fingers along the bird's back in an attempt to soothe him. The doors opened and the students poured from the locomotive and out into the cool nighttime air. Mercury launched himself away from the train and flew up and over a high cliff.

Before he could lose him, Cain grabbed Sebastian's sleeve. "Thanks, man." Sebastian just looked confused. "For not letting me go through a full-on panic attack."

"What're friends for?" he winked and pulled Cain by the wrist off of the train.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter Six**_

"Firs' years!" came the booming voice of a humongous man with wild, bushy hair and a beard to match. "Firs' years follow me! No more 'n four to a boat!"

Cain's jaw dropped as the enormous man, as tall as two average-sized men and as wide as three, stepped toward him with his feet the size of wild hogs and hands as large as table tops. Sebastian elbowed Cain, making him snap his mouth closed. All the first years followed the half-giant to a massive, glassy lake where a bunch of tiny row boats were floating. Sebastian had never released Cain's wrist and he lead them to one of the small boats that already held Ravie and Nicholas.

"Leave yer trunks, they'll be taken up to the castle separately," they heard him holler. "Right then, e'ryone where they oughter be?"

He climbed into a boat that clearly shouldn't have been able to hold his weight, and announced, "My name's Rubeus Hagrid, but e'ryone jus' calls me Hagrid."

Hagrid tapped a pink umbrella on the side of his small boat and the entire fleet lurched forward. Sebastian had released Cain's arm upon climbing into the small boat, but Cain scooted closer to him when their tiny boat set sail.

"Alright, firs' years, duck your heads!" Hagrid shouted as they came to the cliff upon which sat the school of witchcraft and wizardry. "Yeh'll get yer first view of the castle in a moment."

Cain and his shipmates ducked down low to avoid getting their heads knocked off completely. Sebastian looked over to Cain with excitement in his eyes at getting to finally see the castle. Cain smiled in return, even though he was beginning to feel sick again. He looked up as they came out of from underneath the cliff and Hogwarts Castle came into view.

The castle was huge. All Cain could see of the building was the high turrets and the windows lit with warm yellow light. The closer they came to the castle, the more Cain's heart began to race; both with excitement and fear. He looked down to see that his hands had begun to shake so he crossed his arms, stuffing his fists underneath.

As the little vessels bumped against land, the students spilled out onto the shore. Cain and Sebastian, along with Nicholas and Ravie, walk up to the castle doors together. Hagrid knocked three booming times and the doors were pulled open to reveal a tall, very stern-looking witch standing in the doorway to the Entrance Hall. She welcomed the students to stand just outside the Great Hall.

"The firs' years, Professor," Hagrid said.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I'll take them from here." She turned to the group of eleven-year-olds.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said the Headmistress. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory and spend free time in your House common room." She folded her hands together in front of her.

"The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each House has its own history and each has produced spectacular witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while any rule-breaking will lose them. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup: a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever House becomes yours." McGonagall looked sternly at the group of children.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all straightened yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." Cain nervously tried to straighten his tie, black with white diagonal stripes, and smoothed a hand over his hair in an attempt to make himself more presentable.

"I will return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly." She turned and stalked back through the massive doors from which she'd entered.

Cain thought he saw something hanging above him and gasped as he turned his face up to look at the ghost sitting cross-legged in midair directly above his head. The silvery, see-through man had a nasty grin on his face. He was holding a handful of some kind of sticks. The ghost let out a cackle and threw the maybe thirty-something sticks into the air over the crowd of first years. He zoomed away with the obnoxious squealing sound of a balloon being stretched.

"Peeves!" a second ghost shouted. This one looked maybe seventeen with a headful of what was once probably flaming red hair. "What have we said about pranks on the first day of the first years?"

Peeves just responded with another loud cackle from somewhere in the distance. The younger ghost shook his head ruefully and looked apologetically at the first years.

"Come, children," McGonagall said from the doorway to the Great Hall. "The Ceremony is about to start."

Headmistress McGonagall lead them through the gigantic doorway and onto a stage in front of four long tables filled with hundreds of students. The staff table was situated behind the first years. Cain felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach and his hands begin to shake again.

McGonagall left the stage for a moment only to return with a stool and a frayed, dusty, shabby-looking hat that seemed about a thousand years old. Cain looked at the hat for a moment, briefly wondering if they were going to have to try and pull something from it. Then a large rip appeared at the brim like the large mouth of a bass and began to sing:

_A thousand years or more ago_

_When I was newly sewn,_

_There lived four wizards of renown,_

_Whose names are still well known:_

_Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,_

_Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,_

_Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,_

_Shrewd Slytherin, from fen._

_They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,_

_They hatched a daring plan_

_To educate young sorcerers_

_Thus Hogwarts School began._

_Now each of these four founders_

_Formed their own house, for each_

_Did value different virtues_

_In the ones they had to teach._

_By Gryffindor, the bravest were_

_Prized far beyond the rest;_

_For Ravenclaw, the cleverest_

_Would always be the best;_

_For Hufflepuff, hard workers were_

_Most worthy of admission;_

_And power-hungry Slytherin_

_Loved those of great ambition._

_While still alive they did divide_

_Their favourites from the throng,_

_Yet how to pick the worthy ones_

_When they were dead and gone?_

_Twas Gryffindor who found the way,_

_He whipped me off his head_

_The founders put some brains in me_

_So I could choose instead!_

_Now slip me snug about your ears,_

_I've never yet been wrong,_

_I'll have a look inside your mind_

_And tell where you belong!_

At the moment, Cain wasn't feeling any of these traits, especially not ambitiousness, cleverness, or bravery. He watched as McGonagall walked back onto the stage with a large roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said.

Cain swallowed hard as she began calling names; last name, then first. She started with "Abbay, Lorelai" who was sorted into Hufflepuff as soon as the hat touched her head. Cain felt a wave of relief when he realised that this was all he'd have to do. Just try on a hat. No big deal.

_But what are you gonna do when the hat doesn't say anything? _that annoying little voice in his head asked, _When it stays silent. What will you do then, eh boy?_ Cain's breathing quickened and his heart pounded double-time. Sebastian glanced over at Cain and bumped him with his shoulder. Cain jumped and dragged in a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

"You'll be fine," Sebastian mouthed to him. Cain nodded slightly and turned back to watch "Elkins, Sam" be sorted into Ravenclaw and then "Elm, Jennifer" was the first in Gryffindor. Cain was nearly deafened by the roar that must've been from the Gryffindor table. Cain noticed that, as Jennifer took her seat, her tie had changed from black and white, to scarlet and gold. He searched the Ravenclaw table for Sam and saw that his tie had turned to blue and bronze.

Before he knew it, he heard "Kripke, Alan" and was slightly confused at first as he watched Sebastian walk up to take his turn on the stool. The hat was on his head for a few seconds before it shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!" and he went down to take his seat. Cain saw that his tie had transformed to canary yellow and black.

_I hope it puts me in Hufflepuff,_ Cain thought, _I want to have at least one friend in my House._

"Nemora, Penelope" was the first Slytherin. Cain was now trying to calm himself by watching as the ties of his fellow first years changed into the colours of their House. Slytherin must've been green and silver.

The hat had barely brushed the hair of "Northwood, Thomas" before it shouted "SLYTHERIN!" and he swaggered over to join Nemora with the cheering group of Slytherins as his tie morphed to green and silver.

On Cain's other side, "Ravenwood, Raven" left the long line of first years for her place on the stool. She was quickly sorted into Ravenclaw, which was no surprise given the irony of her name, along with "Sherlock, James". Afterward, "Taylor, Sherry" was placed into Hufflepuff, then it was "Telford, Nicholas" into Gryffindor.

"Tenebris, Jacob!" Cain nearly didn't take the trip up the the stool, as he'd been listening for _Tenebris, Cain._

With trembling hands, Cain lifted the worn out hat and sat atop the stool and lowered the hat onto his head.

"_Hmm,"_ he heard in his ear, "_You seem to be clever, also very brave-"_ Cain snorted under his breath. "_No? Hmm.. You'll be great in _RAVENCLAW!"

Cain took a sudden deep breath and almost choked on it as he hurried to rest the battered hat once again onto the stool. He stood and hurried over to the table full of cheers and watched as his tie colours switched from black and white to blue and bronze. He glanced over to Sebastian as he took his seat next to Ravie and they gave each other a thumbs up. His stomach started to settle now that he actually had a place in the school. He looked up to the stage to watch the last few people being sorted.

"Yuhas, Lindsey"was sorted into Hufflepuff and "Zimmerman, Jared" was sorted into Gryffindor. The poor end-of-the-alphabetters; Cain's heart reached out to them. As Zimmerman took his seat with screaming Gryffindors, Professor McGonagall stood to quiet the Great Hall.

"Before we begin our feast," she started, "I would like to make it perfectly clear that every student is forbidden to enter the forest for it is extremely dangerous. Everyone must be in the dormitories by eight o'clock. No later. For anyone who wishes to roam the halls later than that, you will be punished." McGonagall looked sternly at each House table to be sure that her message had been well received by every student.

"Now we shall enjoy our feast!"

Cain excitedly noticed that every golden dish that had been empty moments before, now held any type of food one could imagine. There were heaping piles of potatoes, towering stacks of buttered rolls. Cain wanted to try a bit of everything! He hadn't realised just how hungry he was until the wonderful mixed smell of the food wafted over him. His stomach rumbled as he used his fork and knife to pull a juicy steak onto his gleaming plate, followed by a large scoop of steaming mashed potatoes.

He listened in on the conversations going on around him as he cut his steak and nearly choked when the shimmering ghost of a handsomely dressed woman drifted passed him.

"When I was only a baby, maybe three or so," he heard Sam Elkins say, "my older brother thought it would be a great joke to feed me a handful of hiccough sweets."

"Oh no!" came the gasp of a second year girl Cain didn't know the name of.

"Oh yes!" Sam laughed. "I thought my mother would've beaten him to death that day."

_Why would a mother be that angry over one of her children giving the other some sweets? _Cain thought to himself.

"Where are you from?" he heard coming from another chat.

"Oh, I'm from Belfast," came the reply of an Irish girl with long brunette curls. "We'd been anticipating my letter for weeks before my birthday and I'd already had all my school things beforehand, well, except for my books, of course."

"My family's from London originally, but we'd moved out to Liverpool to get away from the majority of them," another girl laughed. "What about you, mate?"

Cain looked up as he shoveled in a bite of bread. He hadn't been expecting to be brought into any sort of chatter.

"Oh, he's an American," Ravie answered for him while he hurried to empty his mouth.

"I'm from Ohio," he told the girls, "It's in the eastern part America; just about a nine hour drive to the coast."

"Oh, wow!" said the Irish girl. "That's so far from here!"

Cain nodded solemnly.

"Do you miss being in America?" asked the girl from Liverpool. "I'm Deanna, by the way, and this is Cassie." The girls held their hands out to Cain. He introduced himself as he nodded that he did miss home.

"Well, perhaps you'll be able to go back to visit during Christmas or summer break."

"I don't know about that," Cain looked down at his lap. "My dad'll probably be too busy to be able leave for that long." Deanna nodded in understanding.

Ravie gestured for Cain to pass the pitcher of pumpkin juice as she went on babbling to Deanna and Cassie where she was from and what each of their families did for the holidays. All throughout the conversation, Cain answered when he was spoken to. Other than that, he foolishly allowed himself to miss his family and and friends back home and wondered what they were doing and if they missed him.

After the dessert had been whisked away, Headmistress McGonagall had stood again and waited the Great Hall to once again become silent.

"I want to wish you all goodnight!" she announced. "Prefects, if you would, please lead your House to your dormitories."

Cain looked up at the older boy and girl that now stood at his end of the table, their chests puffed out with pride.

"First years," the boy announced to the table. "I am Simon Xavier, and this is Jessica Lowry. We are the prefects of Ravenclaw House. Please follow us to our dormitories."

All of the first years, their bellies full and legs feeling leaden, stood to follow as the prefects showed the way through the incredibly confusing corridors and dim hallways. As they passed a suit of armor, Cain could've sworn that it had changed its position. Passing by the portraits, Cain could actually hear them talking to each other. He had accepted the fact that pictures could move in the wizard world, but now they can speak to each other? How bizarre! He said so to Ravie, who chuckled and rolled her eyes at his ignorance.

The group of children followed the prefects up an incredibly long spiral staircase and stopped at a dead end. Cain looked around, confused as to why two prefects would lead their group to a dead end at the top of a staircase. Then he noticed the medium sized bronze door knocker in the shape of an eagle.

"Our common room, unlike any other house, doesn't need to have a concealed entrance," Simon informed them. "We do not need one. The door lies behind this enchanted knocker."

"When you tap the door," Jessica continued, "this knocker will ask you a question, and if you can answer it correctly, you are allowed in. This simple barrier has kept out anyone but Ravenclaws for nearly a thousand years."

"First years, like yourselves, are sometimes intimidated by the knocker's questions, but don't worry too much about it. Ravenclaws learn quickly, and you'll soon enjoy the challenges the door sets. It isn't unusual to find twenty or so people crowded by the knocker trying to figure out the answer," Simon laughed. "This is also a fantastic way to meet other Ravenclaws from different years, and to learn from them-although, it's a bit annoying if you've forgotten your Quidditch robes and need to get back in in a hurry." It sounded as though Simon was speaking from experience. "I'd advise you to triple check your bags before leaving the common room."

"Now, let's see what the door has to ask us for tonight," Jessica suggested as she turned to rap her knuckles against the wall near the bronze eagle.

"_What goes on four feet in the morning, two feet at noon, and three feet in the evening?" _the eagle asked of them.

The group of Ravenclaws stood silent as they thought over the question, well mostly silent. Some were mumbling to themselves or a friend as they racked their brains for an answer. Cain gasped as the answer came to him, but he didn't want to bring attention to himself by shouting it out. Unfortunately for him, Ravie heard his sharp intake of breath and outed his discovery.

"I believe Cain's got the answer," she told the group loudly. Cain shot her a dirty look; she gave him a smug smile.

"Well?" Simon gestured for him to suggest his answer.

"Go on then," Jessica encouraged.

"Man," Cain whispered. He cleared his throat and said it again, louder. "The answer is mankind. Because a person crawls on his hands and knees as a baby, he walks on two feet as an adult, and with a cane as an old man."

The first years watched in awe as the door magically swung inward to reveal a large circular common room filled with plush chairs, with lamps next to each one perfect for curling up with a good book, gathered around the fireplace. There were tall arched windows overlooking the school grounds as well as the glassy lake they had sailed across that evening. From where he was standing, Cain could see what looked like some sort of playing field, but he couldn't figure out why the golden hoops stood so high off the ground.

"Well done, Cain!" Jessica praised him. Cain ducked his head as he felt his cheeks begin to redden.

"Good job, mate." Simon slapped him hard on the back. He grunted in surprise.

"Right then, first year boys follow me," said Simon.

"And the girls with me." Jessica lead the girls off to the right of the common room toward a door that Cain hadn't noticed earlier. Simon lead the boys to a similar door to the left.

The five boys-Sam Elkins, Jeremy Reedus, Liam Wesson, Mason Wright, and Cain-followed Simon up the small staircase that lead to a door with a sign reading "First Years".

"This will be your room," Simon told the boys. "Your trunks have already been brought up and are at the foot of your beds." Cain wondered how they could have known who would be in which house before hand.

Sam twisted the knob of the door and pushed it open, revealing a spacious room containing five four-poster beds with sky blue eiderdowns hanging around each one. Cain could hear the faint sounds of a breeze slightly rattling past the windows and knew that he'd fall asleep quickly that night.

"I'll leave you to it," said Simon backing towards the door. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," the boys mumbled tiredly in unison.

Cain shuffled toward his trunk and dug out some pajamas and quickly crawled into bed, pulling the soft down blankets up to his chin. Within seconds all five boys were breathing deeply with sleep. They would have a big day tomorrow.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I'm so sorry to those who've actually enjoyed this story so far for the delay. I've had a bit of a block about how to continue on with the first week of Cain's lessons. Also, I know that there was no mention in the books about Flitwick offering advice and guidance, but I felt like that's something he would've done at some point.

Once again, I am sorry for the delay Please forgive me D:

Also, Happy New Year, everyone!

2015

~shipperoftheships67

Xx...xX

_**Chapter 7**_

After dressing in his black school robes, Cain filled his bag with his books, extra parchment (just in case), a quill and inkwell, and his wand. He wasn't entirely sure if he would even need his wand on the first day of lessons, but he didn't want to have to come back and have to quickly answer a question from the eagle.

Cain, Ravie, and the other first years-after triple checking that they had everything-followed a group of fifth years down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Cain threw a glance up toward the staff table where all the professors and the headmistress were already seated and chuckling merrily, well all of them except for a rather nasty looking woman who was sitting partly off from the rest of the group. An incredibly tiny man was perched on a chair next to a portly, rosey-cheeked woman wearing dark yellow robes.

"Who's that little guy?" asked Cain as he leaned across the table to Ravie. She turned to look up at the group of teachers.

"Oh, I believe that's our Head of House." She reached for the pitcher of orange juice and went on, "His name is Filius Flitwick, and he was in Ravenclaw himself as a student here."

"Really? That's awesome!" Cain exclaimed. _Flitwick must've really loved Hogwarts if he's been here that long,_ Cain thought to himself.

Professor Flitwick, upon noticing that the Ravenclaw table was full, jumped from his chair at the staff table and waddled, more quickly than Cain would've thought possible, across the Hall to his gaggle of students. He produced a bundle of rolls of parchment and sent them flying down the Ravenclaw table, each student receiving the correct piece.

"Welcome, first years," he squeaked. "I am Professor Filius Flitwick, and I will be your Head of House. My element, as well as my subject here at Hogwarts, is Charms. I will explain more of what you'll be learning from me when our first lesson begins come Wednesday morning." He paused for a bit, before looking into the face of every first year.

"I want every one of you to know that, should you have a problem-any sort of problem-you can always come to me for advice or guidance. No matter the subject, I will always do my best to lend a hand. I just need to make myself clear. I have a weak spot for and genuinely care about the well being of each of the students that have been Sorted into my House. Ravenclaw is given only the most knowledgeable students, but even the cleverest minds could use some help with a heavy load." The professor gave his House a curt nod and a grin. "I bid you all good day."

As Cain watched tiny teacher walk away, he could tell that Flitwick would probably be his favourite teacher. He and Ravie unrolled their schedules and read over their first list of lessons.

As Cain and Ravie waited for their friends to arrive, they chattered with the other Ravenclaw first years about how nervous they were for their first lessons and wondering how difficult they might be as the Hufflepuffs streamed into the Great Hall, amid a loud chorus of voices. Cain scanned the throng of people until he found Sebastian speaking with a young girl. He waved them over.

"Hey," said Cain, "We've got our first lesson together." Cain showed his schedule to Sebastian who looked just as excited about it as Cain felt.

"This is fantastic! And it looks like we've also got Transfiguration and Charms together as well." He glanced to the girl next to him. "Oh, this is Fida, by the way," Sebastian introduced his friends. "Fida, these are Ravie and Cain." She waved to them shyly. "Where did you get this?" Sebastian indicated the class schedule.

"Your Head of House will give them to you guys when your table's filled up," Cain told them. "Who's the Head of your House?"

"Professor Flavus," Fida mumbled nervously. "I hope she isn't scary."

Cain shrugged his shoulders indicating that he didn't know whether or not Professor Flavus was overly strict or cruel. He hoped, for Fida's sake, that she was a friendly and jovial spirit.

"What about yours?" asked Sebastian.

"Ours is Professor Flitwick. He teaches Charms," Ravie answered, taking a sip of her orange juice. "Honestly I can't wait for his class. It's the one I'm most excited for." Cain nodded in agreement.

"I can't wait for flying lessons," said Fida, perking up. "My dad had been teaching me to ride a broomstick properly before I'd even gotten my letter."

"A broomstick?" Cain asked incredulously. He had never heard of such a thing. He figured that it was just a myth or something that witches and wizards would actually ride a broomstick.

"Yes, a broomstick," Ravie responded, chuckling once again at his ignorance to all things magical. "We use them as a means of transportation as well as to play Quidditch."

"What's Quidditch?" Cain asked with exasperation.

Right as Sebastian was about to answer Cain's question, in a more amicable way than Ravie perhaps would have, they noticed the woman in yellow as she strode over to the table full of Hufflepuffs. Fida and Sebastian waved their goodbyes to their Ravenclaw friends and hurriedly went off to have breakfast and receive their own schedules.

"We have Professor Longbottom for Herbology first," said Ravie with another glance down at her schedule. "Then we go on to History of Magic with the Slytherins."

"Ya know, I've heard that the Slytherins are real jerks," said Cain as he took a rather large bite of his bacon. Ravie nodded her head.

Just then, Cain noticed a gang of said Slytherins walk into the room like they owned the place. There was a sneering boy with a pale, pointed face in the lead of his own little squad. Cain would've bet that the nearly-white haired boy was from a wealthy family, and that his two cronies were only there because they wanted a leader. With the way they held themselves, you'd think that they'd been there longer than twenty four hours. The three boys were only first years, just the same as every other new student.

Suddenly the boy in the center of the Slytherin trio looked directly at Cain, his grey eyes staring coldly into Cain's own blue. The boy stalked toward Cain, who stared right back deftly refusing to be the one to look away. He'd dealt with his share of bullies and knew that the worst thing you could do is to let them think that they've won.

"So you're the American, eh?" he drawled. Ravie huffed out a chuckle at his cockiness. Cain ignored her and nodded nonchalantly.

"Yes, can I help you with something?"

The boy snickered and crossed his arms. As he was about to speak, another voice made itself heard.

"You must be Scorpius Malfoy." The blond boy turned to face the other boy who had apparently just entered the Great Hall.

The newcomer was a year or so older than Cain, and was also a bit taller. He had jet black hair that hung untidily over his bright brown eyes. He was currently giving the young Malfoy an evil stare.

"I suppose that would make you James Potter, then?" Malfoy responded as he noticed a couple more first years walk in behind Potter. The two younger children were a boy that looked just like a smaller version of James except with bright green eyes instead of brown, and a girl with fiery red hair and a smattering of freckles across her nose.

"Well, it seems you're a bit smarter than I'd previously assumed," the eldest Potter quipped.

Malfoy turned away from Cain and moved nearer to the Potter boys, to better shoot sarcasm and insults at each other. Cain, secretly glad that he didn't have to deal with the Malfoy boy any longer, rolled his eyes at their bickering and turned back to his breakfast, but the name Potter stuck with him. He looked up as Simon Xavier joined him and Ravie at the end of the table.

"Are those two Potter kids related to _the_ Harry Potter?"asked Cain.

"Well, yes," Xavier answered slowly, looking at Cain like he might just be a little slow. "Those are James and Albus Potter. They're Harry Potter's sons. And the red haired girl? That's Rose Weasley. Ron and Hermione Weasley's daughter."

"Yeah? I've read about them."

"Well now you attend Hogwarts with their children," Xavier laughed.

Cain could hardly believe it. He supposed that they were just normal kids like the rest of them, but it seemed like they should be different after all the things that their parents had done. Saving the entire magical community from the Dark Lord; Voldemort. He looked back to watch the feud a moment longer before gathering up his things to run off to Herbology with Sebastian, Ravie, and Fida.

The batch of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs trekked across the school grounds after breakfast and waited by the entrance of the first greenhouse door. Cain and Ravie told the Hufflepuffs about the Potter boys and the Weasley girl. Sebastian exclaimed that the girl must've been the child of Ronald Weasley, the man from Cain's Chocolate Frog card. Cain nodded vigorously and told them what Simon had said to them.

"That's wicked!" Sebastian exclaimed just as they noticed Professor Longbottom opening the greenhouse. "We go to school with famous people!"

"Famous peoples' children," Ravie corrected him with a laugh.

The group of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs filed into the room and gathered in groups of four around worktables as Longbottom started his first lesson of the term.

"Now, class," he started. "Who can tell me the properties of Devil's Snare?"

Immediately, half a dozen hands shot into the air, and Longbottom looked proudly out at his class of students. He seemed genuinely impressed by how many people thought they knew the answer. He pointed to Ravie whose hand was one of the first thrown into the air.

"Devil's Snare is a plant with the magical ability to constrict or strangle anything in its surrounding environment or something that happens to touch it," she spouted out, as though she were reading it from a textbook. "Struggling or resistance to Devil's Snare will cause the plant to exert a greater force of constriction."

"Well done, Ms. Ravenwood," Professor Longbottom praised. "Ten points to Ravenclaw!"

Cain gave her a pat on the back as Longbottom went on explaining the uses of Devil's Snare and letting them know exactly what could happen if one became ensnared in the vicious vines of the plant.

As the lesson went on, Professor Longbottom allowed the students to split into pairs to re-pot the dangerous plants; they were outgrowing their current containers. He told the class where to get their smocks and gave them the rundown on how to properly and carefully remove the plant and replace it into the next planter pot. Longbottom dimmed the lighting in the greenhouse for this lesson in hopes that the plants might be a little more cooperative.

As Cain and Sebastian fought to not allow the savage tendrils to wrap themselves around their forearms, they failed to notice their neighbors' Devil's Snare as it slowly snaked across the table and up around Cain's bicep. The plant was finally detected as it began to forcefully squeeze around the young boy's arm. Cain gasped and tried to pull away from the ever tightening corkscrew of the Snare that encased his limb.

"P-Professor," he panted out as he remembered that he needed to remain calm and not fight it. "It's got a good grip on me, sir."

Longbottom immediately came to Cain's aid as he brandished his wand and pointed it at the bit of greenery firmly latched onto Cain's arm. "_Lumos Solem!"_

A blinding flash of light emanated from the tip of the Professor's wand and the Devil's Snare immediately released its hold an shrank back into its new pot. Cain tried to rub the feeling back into his fingers as he stuttered out his thanks. Professor Longbottom waved off the appreciation, and demanded to know if Cain felt that he should visit the hospital wing.

"No, no," he answered hurriedly, not wanting to look like a pansy in front of the entire class. "I think I should be fine once the blood gets back into my arm." He laughed and tried to shake the pins-and-needles feeling from his flesh.

"Alright then," said the Professor before he addressed the entire room. "I think that'll be enough for today. Class dismissed."

There was a small cheer as the students returned their smocks and gathered their bags to leave for their next class.

After trudging their way to the castle and up several flights of stairs-Fida accidentally shoving her foot through the pesky vanishing stair and turning a violent shade of crimson as Cain and Sebastian hauled her out of it-, Cain and Ravie bid goodbye to the Hufflepuffs and went their separate way.

The pair of Ravenclaws finally found the History of Magic classroom by the fourth door they tried. The only empty seats were in the far right corner in the back of the room. There was already a pair of Slytherin girls seated at the next table over. Cain opted for the window seat, forcing Ravie to be next to the green-tied first years.

Cain was beginning to wonder if a teacher was ever going to show up when a sudden gasp from the front of the room caught his attention. He whipped his head around to see one of the shimmering opaque ghosts gliding through the black board. Cain's jaw dropped as he realised that this class was obviously about to be taught by a dead wizard. Cain's excitement was short lived.

"I am Professor Binns," the ghost droned. "I'll be teaching History of Magic to all of you for the next seven years."

Cain had a sort of internal groan as he and Ravie shared a look of pure disbelief. How could a class at Hogwarts, a school of _magic,_ be even remotely boring. Well, if you wanted an answer, you've found it in the class of Professor Binns. Not ten minutes into a long, monotonous lecture of the Warlock's Convention of 1709, the entire classroom was full of people trying desperately to not snore. Ravie had her chin propped on one hand, her quill hovering over a huge black dot of ink on a piece of parchment. Cain was nearly laying on top of her by the time the bell finally rang signalling the end of the dreadfully long class and the start of a promising lunch.

"Well, thank Merlin that's all the lessons we have today," Ravie sighed as she stretched her arms above her head. "I could do with a nap by now."

"Really? That's all for today?"

"Yes. Honestly, Cain, did you even look at our classes?" she rolled her eyes and led the way from the classroom. "It says, plain as day, that we only have Herbology and History of Magic on Mondays."

Cain nodded as he remembered seeing that. "I just feel like there should be more in one day," he muttered as they trotted down the grand staircase, carefully avoiding the disappearing step.

Ravie gasped as she saw her friend Nicholas, now with red tipped hair, and sprinted across the Hall to the Gryffindor table. Cain, not wanting to be left alone at the Ravenclaw table, followed her. Nicholas, upon seeing them, rose as a grin spread across his face.

"Rae!" he exclaimed as she threw her arms around his neck as though she hadn't seen him in years.

"How's your first day going so far," Ravie asked him.

"It's going well. A sixth year told me this morning that having blue hair wouldn't be acceptable for a Gryffindor, so he changed it," he told them with a laugh. "How's it been for you guys?"

"That's awesome," said Cain as he reached out to touch Nicholas's hair. "Everything's been great so far," Cain answered. "Well, aside from Binns's class though."

"Is that the class taught by the ghost?" asked Nicholas.

Ravie nodded with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. "He is _so_ monotonous." Nicholas laughed and waved as Sebastian and Fida entered the Great Hall. They strode over to them and joined in chattering excitedly about their first day of lessons.

"Isn't your name Tenebris?" Sebastian demanded as he got closer.

"Uh, yeah," Cain stuttered. "Why?"

"What?" Nicholas exclaimed. "The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is a Tenebris."

"Seriously?" Sebastian nodded and asked if he thought they might related. Cain shrugged his shoulders.

"Well we have Defense Against the Dark Arts tomorrow with the Slytherins," Cain said. "I'll talk to the professor then."

"I'm so mad at my parents right now," Ravie said suddenly.

"What? Why?" Nicholas asked.

Ravie went on to complain about how she was named _Raven Raven_wood and that she was in _Raven_claw House. Nicholas laughed at the irony and turned to pile his plate high with food. With a chuckle Sebastian and Fida went to the Hufflepuff table after making plans for everybody to meet back up out on the school grounds before curfew.

As Cain and Ravie made their way back up to Ravenclaw Tower, they were stopped suddenly by a sudden piece of chalk pelting Cain in the back of the head. He spun around to find Peeves sitting crosslegged in midair wearing a smug grin. Cain wondered briefly what would happen if he suddenly started throwing punches at a ghost.

"Oohh," the ghost purred wickedly. "Ickle firsties out all by their lonesome!"

Ravie glanced nervously at Cain who was anxiously wishing a professor or prefect would come round a corner and send Peeves away. He didn't like the evil glint in the poltergeist's eye.

"Peeves," came the raspy voice of another ghost that seemed to materialize from nowhere. Now that he thought about it, it was quite possible for him to have materialized from nowhere. "You will leave these children to their devices at once."

"O-oh, Your Bloodiness," Peeves gasped with fright, suddenly looking less like he wanted to put firecrackers in their pants, and more like he wanted to run away and hide. "I-I'm sorry Mr. Baron, sir. I'll just be on my way then, sir. Oh, please forgive poor Peevesie his joke, Your Bloodiness, sir." Peeves spun around and squealed down the fourth floor corridor.

"Th-thank you, sir," Ravie stuttered out to the Bloody Baron, ghost of Slytherin House. The bloody ghost did not respond, only drifted on down the corridor and through the wall and into an empty classroom. Cain and Ravie exchanged a confused look and continued on their way.

At the top of Ravenclaw Tower, Cain rapped on the wall above the bronze knocker and was asked:

"_A man is sitting in a pub feeling rather poor. He sees the man next to him pull a pile of Knuts from his pocket._

_He turns to the rich man and says to him,_

_'I have an amazing talent; I know almost every song that has ever existed.'_

_The rich man laughs._

_The poor man says, 'I am willing to bet you all the money you have in your pocket that I can sing a genuine song with a lady's name of your choice in it.'_

_The rich man laughs again and says, 'Okay, how about my daughter's name, Joanna Armstrong-Miller?'_

_The rich man goes home poor. The poor man goes home rich._

_What song did he sing?"_

Cain snorted with a roll of his eyes. Ravie just looked at him questioningly.

"What?" she demanded. "You've already got the answer?"

"And you don't?" he retorted dubiously. "Obviously it's the 'Happy Birthday' song." The door swished open, allowing the pair of Ravenclaws entrance. Ravie rolled her eyes with a disbelieving chuckle as she followed Cain into their common room.

They claimed the worktable in the far corner of the room to get a headstart on their homework from Professor Binns. It was excruciatingly boring, but they managed to, with each other's help, get it done in less than an hour. Cain glanced at the large clock hanging over the doorway and figured that Nicholas, Sebastian, and Fida were probably waiting on them in the front lawn of the school.

Walking over the school grounds to the lake, Cain glanced over to the hut at the edge of the Dark Forest and saw a massive canine sunbathing by the front entrance. Just then, Hagrid came bustling from the small building carrying a large, singed, wooden box. Upon noticing Cain and Ravie watching him, Hagrid balanced the box into one hand and waved merrily to them as they passed. They returned the wave with friendly smiles.

Ravie pointed down to the lake where she could see the others waiting for them on the bank. They could see that Sebastian had his shoes off and his pants rolled up to the knees as he waded out into the water. As they watched, a giant squid tentacle stretched from the glassy top of the water. Sebastian froze with fear, but the tentacle only splashed water at the boy playfully. They laughed with relief and ran the rest of the way to the lake.

"It's about bloody time," Nicholas shouted as the Ravenclaws finally made it to the water's edge. "We were beginning to think you'd never show up."

"Well, unlike some people," said Ravie, shoving him in the arm, "We've just finished our homework."

"What? Already?"

"Yes already," Cain chuckled, "Did you expect us to wait till the last second?"

Nicholas rolled his eyes and turned back to watch Sebastian and the squid splash each other. By the time he crawled from the lake, Sebastian was dripping from head to foot and giggling hysterically. He plopped onto his back in the grass and tried to ring the water from his shirt tail.

"I'm ready for a nap," Sebastian huffed.

"_You_ didn't have to sit through Binns's class today," Cain huffed back as he stretched out next to his Hufflepuff friend.

"Isn't Binns the ghost teacher?"

"Mhmm," Ravie mumbled sleepily.

"I'm gonna fall asleep out here," Cain muttered, finally feeling the effects of his first day of Hogwarts as he started to drift off.

"Maybe we should go back inside," Fida said, standing and pulling Sebastian to his feet by his hands. The rest of them agreed and, with grunts and groans, pulled themselves up and shuffled back to the castle. They regretted not being able to spend as much time with each other as they would've liked, but they all knew that it would better once they all got into the swing of things.

Back inside Ravenclaw Tower after supper in the Great Hall, Cain spread out a roll of parchment, dipped his quill into his inkwell, and started his first letter home:

Dear Mom, Dad, and Annabelle,

I'm sorry I haven't been able to write to you sooner, but I was completely worn out last night after the Sorting. I'm assuming that I'll mostly only be able to write in the evenings due to my classes.

Speaking of classes, you'll never believe the subjects they teach here! I've only had Herbology (a plant called Devil's Snare-rightfully named-attacked me!) and History of Magic which is taught by a real ghost! Even with the professor being a ghost, nearly everyone fell asleep within the first few minutes. No matter how hard you try, there's almost no way to keep awake in there.

There's also another ghost, a poltergeist, named Peeves. He's a major prankster and, far as I can tell, only listens to _another_ ghost called the Bloody Baron. I'm not quite sure what the story is behind why they call him that. There are so many different ghosts around here, I don't know how I'll ever keep them straight.

This place is amazing. To get into my dormitory, I have to knock on a wall near a bronze door knocker shaped like an eagle, and answer a riddle. Paintings, portraits, pictures-anything of the sort-moves. The people in them can move, visit other paintings in their frames and even talk to people passing by. Once, on our way to our History of Magic class, a woman painted inside a silver frame gave my friend Ravie and me directions so we wouldn't be late. I think that even the suits of armor can walk around on their own.

So far, everything is going great here. I just wanted you to know my first day went great!

I love you guys!

Love,

Cain

P.S.- Here's a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans that I got on the train. But tread lightly, when they say _every flavour,_ the mean _every _flavour.

P.P.S- You can send Mercury back to me in the morning. He'll probably be tired when he gets there. Thank you!

Cain searched his trunk for his leftover box of Every Flavour Beans and used a piece of twine to tie it together with his letter and headed out to the owlery in search for Mercury. Before he could even leave his common room, Cain heard a familiar pecking at the window overlooking the Forest. He pulled the window doors open to allow the bird to flutter onto the nearby table top.

"How did you know I needed you?" Cain asked the bird suspiciously as he tied the package to his family onto its leg. Mercury just hooted in response.

Cain held his arm out for Mercury to hop on and walked him over to the open window. He fed the owl a treat before sending him on his way. With a stretch and a yawn, Cain headed up the stairs to change into his flannel pajamas for bed.

As he sat on the edge of his bed, Cain looked at his wand curiously. He thought of the spell that Professor Longbottom had used to make the Devil's Snare let him go. _Lumos Solem._ It had produced the a bright light, much like a flash flight, and sent the vicious weed slithering back into its own pot. Cain picked up his wand with a glance at the door to make sure it was shut.

Staring intently at the tip of the magical piece of wood, Cain whispered the incantation. "_Lumos Solem."_ He gasped as the point glowed for a moment before repeating the spell, a bit louder this time. "_Lumos Solem!"_

As his wand shone as bright as the professor's had, Jeremy Reedus walked into the shared room and let out an impressed laugh at Cain's successful spell.

"Well done, mate!" he shouted. "I can only get the dimmer _lumos_ spell to work properly for me yet."

"Really?" asked Cain, a bit breathlessly. "This is the only spell I've ever tried so far. I just wanted to give it a shot before I went to sleep."

"That's incredible!" Reedus chuckled as he started changing for bed as well.

With a satisfied sigh, Cain laid his wand atop his night table and rolled underneath his blankets. After only a moment's hesitation, he slid the silk eiderdowns closed around his bed.

"G'night, Reedus," said Cain through the bed curtains.

"Night, Tenebris."

The other three boys came into the dormitory shortly after Reedus and Cain had gone to bed. Cain listened to them shuffle around and give each other muted "goodnights" as they dressed for bed. Within mere minutes, the only sound heard in the first years' dormitory was the deep even breaths of its sleeping occupants.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Here's Chapter 8 to the people who've been reading. Please leave a review with your criticism and/or suggestions for the upcoming chapters. The next one will contain the Halloween feast and the beginnings of Christmas excitement, among other things.

Hope you enjoy! (seriously though, leave some suggestions. I'll do my best to incorporate them later on in the story.)

Xx...xX

_**Chapter 8**_

Their first weeks came and went with almost no trouble. It would have been _completely_ without incident if it hadn't been for Sebastian and Cain nearly breaking down a door because they thought that it was the correct classroom ("Honestly, boys," Ravie had scolded them, "We just had Transfiguration last Tuesday!") They enjoyed their meals in the Great Hall and all was going swimmingly. Well, except for one particularly curious Slytherin girl named Penny Nemora that had been ducking behind corners every time they turned around. Since they've always traveled in groups of two to five, the pack of friends had no idea who this girl was trying to follow.

After Herbology, the pair of Ravenclaws decided to ask this girl what exactly she was following them around for.

During History of Magic, Cain and Ravie decided to talk to Nemora. As they were taking their seats, the Slytherin girl across the aisle from Ravie, the Ravenclaws took their chance.

"Hey," said Cain, "Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did, mate," she replied with snark.

"Well, I'm going to ask another." Ravie flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Why've you been following us around?"

Nemora just looked back to her desktop and went about unrolling her parchment. She shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't pull that with me," said Cain with a roll of his eyes, "It's not like you're the most inconspicuous stalker in the world."

The Slytherin's cheeks reddened. Ravie huffed with impatience.

"Well? Why?"

Just then, Professor Binns drifted into the room via chalkboard. The Ravenclaws reluctantly turned to face the front of the room. Cain glanced back over to Nemora to see that her face and ears were quite pink and he suddenly felt a twinge of guilt for embarrassing her like that.

As Binns began his lecture on Uric the Oddball, Cain had terrible trouble taking proper notes. He did pay a little more attention, though, when Binns mentioned that the oddball was once part of Ravenclaw House. _Well, _Cain thought, _McGonagall was right about Ravenclaw coming out with amazing witches and wizards._

As the bell sounded, signalling the end of the lesson and the start of a meal in the Great Hall, Cain and Ravie tried to catch up with Nemora to try and get a straight answer out of her, but to no avail. The young Slytherin had fled the room before they could even finish swinging their bags over their shoulders. With a surprised look, the two Ravenclaws exited the room to find their friends.

In the Great Hall, Sebastian waved Cain over to where he was talking to the half-giant Hagrid. Tentatively, Cain shuffled across the room to his Hufflepuff friend while Ravie went off to meet up with Nicholas. Hagrid turned with a grin hidden in the depths of his wild beard to Cain as he approached.

"So, yer the new American, eh?" he asked.

"Uh, yessir," came Cain's mumbled reply.

"Oh, no," the big man waved his massive hand, "Call me Hagrid. All that 'sir' nonsense makes me feel old." Cain chuckled nervously as Hagrid pushed a bit of greying hair away from his face. "You're one o' the first Americans to've ever attended Hogwarts."

"Wow, really?" asked Cain with amazement. Hagrid beamed down at the first year. "That's amazing!" With a chuckle, Hagrid gave Cain a pat that almost flattened him to the ground.

"I'll let you boys get on with yer lunch." Hagrid started to leave, but turned back to Sebastian. "Tell yer folks I still remember their last big prank. Nearly ruined all the vegetables for the end o' the year feast."

"I will," he laughed, then a worried look came over his features. "Er-does that mean that you're angry still?"

"Ah, no." Hagrid let out a booming laugh. "They were a couple o' the best students of their year."

Sebastian laughed with relief. "Thanks, Hagrid. I'll tell 'em you remember them."

Cain and Sebastian joined Fida at the Hufflepuff table while they waited for Ravie to come back. Cain was beginning to think that she fancied her dear friend Nicholas.

"Apparently, my mum was quite the troublemaker when she was here," Sebastian informed them with a laugh. "The rowdiest Hufflepuff he'd ever seen, Hagrid told me 'fore you guys got here."

"Yeah? I wonder what they did to the garden," Cain muttered, trying to think of what kind of prank could ruin some veggies.

"So, Cain," Fida started uncertainly, "What's the deal with your bag? It's a little unsettling."

"Unsettling? What's unsettling about it?" Cain swung his backpack off his shoulders and around to look at the front. The bag itself was a red and black checked background with the _Punisher _skull on the front pocket. Across the top of the bag were several buttons and pins that he'd collected over time. "I've used this bag for the past two years."

"Why would you want one with a skull on it?" Sebastian asked eyeing the bag like it was going to bite him.

"The skull is something of a logo for a comic book series that I liked when I got this," he explained. "It doesn't mean anything bad."

The Hufflepuffs just nodded in faux understanding. Cain rolled his eyes with a chuckle as Sebastian took the bag for a better look at the dozen or so buttons. They were in deep conversation about a quote Fida had noticed, "Saving people and hunting things... the family business", when Ravie interrupted saying that they all had essays to complete, and that they weren't just going to disappear.

"But tomorrow's only Tuesday," Sebastian stated.

"So?" Cain and Ravie questioned in unison.

"We won't have these classes again until next week."

"Better to get it done now than to wait for the last minute," Cain said with a shrug as he followed his friend to the Ravenclaw table. "We'll see you guys later!"

Back in the common room, Cain turned to Ravie with a question, "Does my bag creep people out? Should I use a different one?"

"I think it suits you," Ravie complimented, "Although, I think you should try that charm Flitwick taught us last week."

"Which one?" Cain thought back, but there were quite a few things he'd learned since coming to Hogwarts.

"The colour changing charm," she clarified. "I'm guessing it's the one that fifth year used to change Nicholas's hair to red instead of blue."

"Well, I need blue instead of red, then," Cain muttered as he brandished his wand from the inside pocket of his robes and aimed it at the backpack. He concentrated on the colour he wanted to change, and what he wanted it changed into. Cain cleared his throat and flicked his wand.

_"Colovaria!"_

Immediately, the red on the bag began to morph into a murky purple before settling on a deep blue matching that of Cain's tie. He grinned triumphantly at Ravie who congratulated him on his successful charm.

He suddenly had an idea.

"So," he started, "Since the photographs and paintings and things move in the wizarding world, could I make the ones on my buttons move?"

"Hmm," Ravie murmured as she tilted her head in thought. "Perhaps. We may have to go to the library and find the proper spells."

Cain's jaw dropped as she mentioned the library.

"Why have I never been in the school's library?" he demanded. "I don't even know where it is!"

Ravie laughed and turned back to her roll of parchment. With a shake of his head, Cain did the same. He still had incredible trouble writing with a quill. Always ending up with ink all over his fingers and hand without really knowing how to properly hold it. Sometimes, Cain wondered about using a regular, ball-point, Inkjoy ink pen.

Suddenly, there was a loud pop followed by a groan and the smell of burning hair. Cain turned to see two fourth year girls with soot-blackened faces, holding their wands haphazardly as they looked forlornly at their failed experiment.

"Wonder what they're trying," Ravie mumbled as she stood to join the girls in the floor near the entrance to common room.

"I'm gonna go meet up with the others," said Cain as he packed his finished essays away and went to leave his now-blue bag in his dormitory.

"You go ahead, I'll catch up later." Ravie waved a hand in dismiss. Cain nodded and went on his way.

As Cain wandered the corridors, looking for anything to do, he slammed against the solid form of Fida, her glossy black hair whipping as she stumbled forward. Cain grabbed a fistful of her robes to keep her from hitting the ground.

"I am so sorry, Fida!" Cain gasped, kneeling to help pick up her books that littered the hall. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I'm so sorry."

"It's all right, Cain," Fida laughed, "Thank you for helping pick up my things."

Cain laughed and took the hint to stop worrying over spilt milk, as the saying went. They stood and piled her things back into her bag before continuing down the corridor together.

They chattered about Cain's successful _Colovaria _charm and how Fida had discovered how to get into the school kitchens by accident.

"How did you _accidentally _get into the kitchens?" Cain asked with a disbelieving chuckle. "I mean, even the stairs change. How was that even possible?"

"I was leaning against the wall near a painting of a fruit bowl and needed a stretch; long story short, I tickled the pear in just the right place and the painting swung out like a door." Fida shrugged and went on, "I stepped in and saw that there are dozens of house elves who do all the cooking and things. I'm guessing they're who does most of the cleaning as well."

"House elves?" asked Cain, perplexed. He'd never heard of such a creature.

"Yeah, the elves must belong to the school," Fida explained as she lead the way out of the castle. "They were falling over themselves trying to make me something to eat."

Cain shook his head, "That doesn't seem right. It's like they're slaves."

"No, no, it's what they live for. Chores and things. Sometimes families mistreat their elf, but we always thank Pucky and treat him as well as ourselves."

Nicholas and Sebastian were waving Cain and Fida over from their seat at the base of the tree near the lake. As they headed toward their friends, the duo argued over the fairness of the way house elves were treated.

"What about the ones who are mistreated?" Cain was saying, "Do they get released if it's noticed?"

"Well, I'm not certain," Fida admitted, "I would assume so. Our government can be helpful occasionally."

"What are you two on about?" asked Sebastian upon their approach.

"House elves," Fida answered smartly before dragging the other Hufflepuff into her argument. "Will you please tell him that it's okay to own one?"

"Seriously?" He rolled his eyes, "Cain, it's totally fine to have a house elf. My family's got one. They serve the one family until their death or are released for whatever reason."

"But there was an entire _war _to get rid of slavery!"

"Yeah, a civil war. In America," Nicholas butted in. "That was to stop humans from enslaving other humans. The elves-it's their entire reason for existence. They like to serve people."

"It just doesn't seem right to me," Cain mumble and plopped down next to Sebastian.

"Well, when you grow up, get an elf and treat it as well as you want," Nicholas suggested. "Keep that one from being mistreated."

Cain nodded and the subject was changed to a lighter one. The upcoming Halloween feast. It the most excited chatter they'd been hearing about in all their classes.

"What do you guys think it'll be like?" Cain asked excitedly. He'd never been so happy for Halloween to come, and the spooky holiday was his favourite.

"I've heard that Hagrid grows the biggest pumpkins-big enough for, at least, five grown people to fit inside-and he carves them into humongous jack o'lanterns," Nicholas informed them, using his hands to show just how massive the pumpkins would be.

"I bet Flitwick will bewitch something to jump out and scare us."

"Live bats!"

"This is gonna be so cool," Cain breathed, leaning back against the tree, dreaming about all the magical possibilities.


End file.
